The Flog – The Fabry Log

Here's a slice of life that has become our lives. We are sleeping on Coleman blow-up mattresses. Some of the kids who are scared of spiders are sleeping in zip-up tents, thinking that will keep them out. It's going to be a long spring in Arizona.

But one of the things Andrea has said over the past few weeks is, "If we can just get a couch where everyone can sit, we'll be in a better place." On Saturday we went looking for a couch, with instructions not to have it "treated" with any of those sprays they use. We found a furniture store, found a nice 4 piece set, complete with a recliner for dad at a reasonable price. We purchased it and they actually delivered it that afternoon.

Early in the morning, Shannon, who is sleeping on a blow-up mattress in the living room, woke up in repiratory distress, which means she couldn't breathe. She moved into one of the bedrooms and was fine. Upon inspection, this was not the actual couch we had bought, but another from another location where they sprayed the bad stuff on the cushions.

Well, I couldn't leave the thing in the house and there were no deliveries on Sunday, so I rented a U-Haul and got Ryan to help me load it. Then I drove back to the store. But wait. This is where it starts to really get good. They wouldn't accept returns at that store. I had to drive to the other store in order to return it. More miles on the U-Haul. So I took it over and was assured I'd be given "all" my money back because of their "mistake." Except they couldn't refund my money because I didn't have the credit card my wife used and they didn't have access to the other store's records.

I tried to keep my cool through the process, and I think I did a pretty good job, but there were several times when I just wanted to ram that U-Haul into something. I guess we all feel that way at times.

On the way back, however, I saw the White Sox or Rockies or some baseball team practicing. I guess there is a silver lining in every U-Haul, couch return story.

Due to some circumstances beyond our control, I haven't had a chance to upgrade the blog lately. We are living in a small town in Arizona that has little Internet access. So Andrea hasn't been able to update her blog and I can only do so when I get to my "office."

Thanks for your prayers for us. More news is forthcoming. We are in a rental now that we believe is clean and will help us stage our assault on the maladies we've been facing. Have a great weekend.
cf

I just signed a 6 month lease on a house in a remote section, outside the city limits of Tucson. It's small. It's remote. Did I say it was remote? But it is all tile floors and no one has ever lived there. Plus it only has electric appliances and that's a plus for our kids. The owner even said we could have a small dog if we want. No cats. Yes!

It will be good to finally land somewhere since living here the past couple of weeks. God has been faithful to uphold us through the strain of this move, and Shannon and Ryan are supposed to arrive today. So probably Wednesday the boot camp will begin for all of us and the kids can get back to their diet/supplement/medication regimen that they were on before and seeing such progress.

Thanks for praying. We've felt your care and concern.
cf

It's Valentine's Day and I'm on the road again. Stayed with good friends last night and am meeting with the hygienist today to talk about our house and the tests recently completed. Also got to see my son sing in a "battle of the bands" at his high school last night. What fun!

Also got to see my other two daughters in Colorado Springs and have dinner with them. It was a full day yesterday and I'm missing my Valentine today. I'll drive back to AZ today through some rather wintry weather in Colorado.

Yesterday was Pippen's birthday. Pippen was our Bichon Frise we had to put down in October. I remember his birthday because it was exactly a week after Kaitlyn's. So when I got to the house where I stayed last night, their dog, Alfie, stayed by me. When I went to the bedroom, he ran in, jumped on the bed, and stayed there all night.